Today was a really slow day. The weekend was really busy and there were a ton of mothers giving birth but today was the day most of them went home. We did a lot of discharging and wheeling people down to thier cars. We cleaned rooms and got them ready for the next patients. We had to go to each of the labor & delivery rooms and count up the drawers to make sure they had everything they needed for any upcoming birth. My nurse and I went around and checked the vitals of all the women in our wing. I learned that many women will have higher blood pressure since they just put thier bodies through all the stresses of giving birth. One woman, in particular had very high blood pressure so we had to check it manually a bunch of times then call the doctor. I learned how to check temperature and blood pressure and what type of things there are to look out for. I also got to sit in on a class for first time mothers that is held everyday in the buidling. It was really interesting because there were so many things that I never knew about babies. We learned how to wash babies, dress them, change them, feed them, etc. We learned about feeding times and growth spurts. Babies grow a lot during the first few weeks of life and I learned that feeding them every few hours (even if they dont seem to want it) is extremely important. I also got to help bathe a baby and learned about where to wash and with what, and how warm the water should be/ what soap to use. Today was a lot of learning and I saw how many things you have to consider when dealing with babies.

More Pandora

Hey guys,

I have been a little behind on my blogging, but life has been very busy. My other posts make it seem as though I have only been working with the bracelets, when I have not. The past week, rings and earrings had become very popular. It was great when a customer came in and it turned out she was buying a graduation present for one of my good friends. It is also very exciting that my sponsor was out all week in Atlanta where she has another Pandora store opening up. A lot has been going on these past few weeks and it can be hard to keep up with!

With project almost being over, I have started to look back at my entire experience at Pandora with all of the useful things I learned and the memories. I want to take this blog to write about the most memorable moments from working at Pandora.

First of all, it really shocked me how several people would come in just to have a single bead put onto their bracelet, which takes about five seconds. Although this was not a big deal at all, I was just surprised at how many people wanted this done. I did however like when people would come in with a bunch of beads and ask for help on how to put it together and give it some sort of style. A lot of people like their bracelets to have certain color themes or be very symmetric. I worked with a women who was designing her 4th bracelet which was going to be black and white. My favorite customers were the people who would get so excited about adding a new bead to their bracelets. One lady bought two new beads to add onto her champagne/brown themed bracelet and she was just so excited and showing everyone once I had put the beads on. Another women had come in and loved the turtle bead, then she saw a blue glass bead, then the dolphin and before she knew it she had picked out about ten beads and had created a water themed bracelet. Another memorable bracelet was when a husband had come in and he told me all about his wife and their new condo in Florida. So in honor of the new condo, I helped him design a bracelet for Florida which had the palm trees, sea shell and several blue beads as well. On the same note, some of the husbands and boyfriends that came in were so sweet and always wanted the beads that had meanings and they would pick out such thoughtful gifts.

The hardest part of working with customers was listening to what they wanted and not putting too much of my own taste into something. There were quite a few times when a customer would pick out items that just were not cute. I would try to give my so called professional opinion, but its the customers wants that came first. Pandora has really been a great experience and environment.


Erica

The Vet

This week was a lot like the last except a lot busier! The mornings were very full of patients and Dr. Richman had to run from room to room. This week we saw a lot of laser therapies. Doc does uses his laser on many different things, the laser promotes healing in the patients and he uses it after surgeries. He also uses it for animals that have strained themselves. I also saw my first set of x-rays- the doc preformed the x-rays on a small dog who was limping. The x-rays showed no serious problems so Dr. Richman just lasered the dogs leg to make him feel better immediately and put the dog on pain medication for long term relief.

COPS

Hi girls! I'm a little late with last weeks blog, but it was a pretty low-key relaxing week.
Monday wasn't very exciting yet it really wasn't boring either. We started off helping the records bureau organize traffic tickets and the afternoon we spent time in the communication center. The comm. center is actually a lot of fun because we get to listen to different 911 calls. We have heard everything from potential suicides to little kids playing with the phone.
Our mentor gave Becky and I Tuesday off before we checked in for our midterm meeting.
On Wednesday I went on a Shift Ride-a-long where we almost arrested a man for not complying with the officers. The man was under heavy suspicion because he was riding a young girl's bike. However, eventually his story checked out and he was cleared.
Thursday I had a Traffic Ride-a-long. The morning started off with a man lying about his intent at a car accident. After lying to the police officer for about half an hour, the man finally confessed that he was at fault. After the accident we began to run radar yet as we were looking for speeders, two tiny dogs came running to the squad car so that they could be held and loved. We tracked down the owner and the dogs were very happy to go home.
Friday was another easy and relaxing day. Becky and I filed and organized for the defectives bureau. We finished the original job so early that we were also able to help file for the finical department and the records bureau. Becky and I don't mind being assigned to filing or organization because we get to do so many cool things that we are more than happy to help out in any way we can.

CHICAGO...cept not really.

Ok, I've been pretty bored for the last few days because Ms. Gregory was on a business trip to a conference in Chicago and I had work conflicts that left me unable to attend. Boo.

But, as of right now I'm finishing up a handbook that will accompany the new website that is currently being developed to make the transferring and disbursement of financial aid thingies more efficient and easier to track.

That's about it for right now.

In other news....

Kelynn and Valentina's Diversity Gala was a success! The amount of people in attendance went perfectly with the type of atmosphere desired. Yayy!!!

I hope everyone is continuing to have success and fun with their projects!!

So this week has been SUPER busy in the Labor & Delivery part of Hillcrest. So many women come in every hour to have thier babies. There are also a ton of women who have already delivered. These patients need to be visited every hour to make sure everythings okay. The nurse and I are assigned 4-5 patients everyday (both pregnant and not). We go around and give them medicine, change thier IVs, and check the baby's vitals. We also check the heartbeat of the babies in the women who are still pregnant to make sure thier hearts are healthy. This week there have been a lot of sick babies being born. There was a set of twins born premature over the weekend and one of them has been in the intensive care area for days. Another baby that was born last night was also sent to that area to be given special treatment. This nursery is far from all the other babies and is closely monitored to make sure that all the sick babies are doing okay. It's really sad to see the babies in there because they're so small and there is nothing they can do! It's really heartbreaking. There is also a lady who I've been helping take care of who is in the hospital for the next 2 months (or whenever she delivers) because of unusual bleeding. Although she is not hooked up to IVs, she had tubes in her arms so that she is ready at all times to be hooked up if something happens. She is closely watched all day; we visit her the most. We check her bleeding and give her all sorts of medicines. We also check the heartbeat of the baby every few hours to make sure everything is okay. Even though there are a lot of sad things to see, the baby delivering part of the hospital is really fun and exciting! :)

Bye Bye Ricky!

This past week at Nesnadny + Schwartz has found me doing everything from taking field trips, to eating more, to retouching photoshop documents, to housekeeping and eating more.

On Friday, one of the employees Ricky, left to start a new job at a graphic design firm in Chicago. It was very cool and we were all very excited for him but at this rate, Mr. Schwartz buying us a free lunch every week! The last thing we need is more food! Anyway, it was very cool to watch the transition that Ricky had to take going from N+S to to Chicago. One of the things he had to do was a brain dump, which is where is gives all of his assignments and jobs to other people in the office.

I would have liked to have stayed around for his last day but Amanda, the other intern from Beaumont, and I had to drive 45 minutes to a HUGE printing press. Seeing that was awesome but it was too bad that we only got to stay there for 30 minutes because we ended up getting lost on the way there and we couldn't find our way for an hour and a half. However, once we were there everything from the smell to the products were incredibly cool. I took pictures!

Other than our field trip, I have been retouching slides for the N+S website and going through negatives and organizing them.

Also, Amanda and I have been given the job of bringing N+S to Facebook, so we have been doing a lot of research trying to figure out the best way to display what N+S has to offer. Spending all day on Facebook... it's so hard!

On the Campaign Trail

Hey guys, last week ended up being pretty uneventful for me. Almost all of what I did was work to finalize Matt's schedule for the next four or five months and actually enter it into the calendar that he will see and use for reference. May is a pretty slow time for the campaign so they try to get ahead for the upcoming summer months because they will be much busier and have numerous occassions on the same days. I got out early on both Wednesday and Thursday because my sponsor had to go to meetings with Matt and potential supporters. These meetings are very important to make good contacts and get backing early on in the campaign. One exciting part of last week was that Matt officially filed for the race by turning in the list of signatures that they had been collecting, making history becoming the first candidate to run for the position in Cuyahoga County history. The most memorable part of the week (kind of a sad statement on my project, haha) was when my sponsor showed me some of the features of Constant Contact. He sent out an email to about 1000 people about the news that Matt had officially filed, and using the program we could get a list of exactly who had opened the email, when they opened it, how many times they looked at it, and any links they went to off the email. I felt like such a stalker. Its creepy how technology can invade your privacy like that and no one even knows that the sender has access to that information. It definately makes me think twice about any information I put on the internet, considering it is so easy for the average person to get whatever information they want. And the best part was how excited my sponsor got by looking at the stats, it was really funny to see him refresh the page like twenty times in a 2 minute span. Well, next week promises to be much more eventful for me, thank god! Hope you guys are having a good time on your projects!
Ellen M

hello ladies,

Well this week has been me and Katie's first week that we did not have to run around doing things for the event and it has been quite relaxing! As Katie said we raised around 200,000 which is far above the expected goal! On Tuesday we had a visit form Mr. Wilson which went swell ...we gave him a tour and tired to make him eat the gross lemon cookies which let me tell you are not the best. We also introduced him to our favorite person Andres and I am pretty sure that they hit it off=] When he left we started our newest project, which will probably take us till the end of project, it entails rearranging fine sort rooms and taking photos of supplies to make the sorting process easier for volunteers. Its a little tedious but me and Miss Bond are having a fun time! I think that we are the first high schoolers to be at MedWish for this long and we have started some new things in the warehouse like constant music playing and I think that we have helped with the overall mood of the office to. (half the time we are getting laughed at cause we are clearly very immature and tend to sing and flash dance)

Hope everyone else is having a lovely time=]

and senora when are you coming to visit!!? cause I don's know how long the nasty lemon cookies are going to last.

Background of MedWish

So I figured I would give you a background of MedWish a.k.a. the tour Brooke and I had to give.

MedWish was started in 1993 by, Lee Ponsky, a urologist from UH. He got the idea while he was on a medical trip. His job was to fill latex gloves with water and see if they had any holes in them, if the gloves did he would have to patch them up before the doctors would reuse them. This really hit him hard because he knew that hospitals back home had so much they didn't use and these countries didn't even have enough as something as simple as gloves.

When he returned home Dr. Ponsky he and his brother started collecting supplies in his garage. When they built up he would take them to a church and send them on a missions trip.

In 2001 he hired his first employee and now is up to 6 full time employees and 2 part time. From 2006 MedWish only collected about 30,000 pounds of supplies to this year already have collected 500,000 pounds of supplies. Haiti was the first country that we got to send supplies to being a country in crisis. Since January 12th we have sent over 300,000 pounds of supplies.

MedWish sends supplies from a 40 foot cargo ship load to just a small box in someones luggage. They are not religiously affiliated at all and are a strictly non-profit organization.

Bonnie Speed Logistics picks up all the supplies that need to be delivered to MedWish because we do not have any means of picking them up. Everything that MedWish does is paid for by donors. It really is a great organization I am having a great time working there.

More MedWish

MedWish has still been great. Last week we only did work building up to a huge fundraiser that we had Saturday night. The fundraiser went fantastically. We raised over 200,000 dollars that was over 70,000 more then we had expected. We held a silent auction and then five live auctions, which were vacation getaways. Brooke and I had the job of giving people tours around the warehouse. Yes, we did get t-shirts and we looked official. There was a huge turn-out and we gave lots of tours to doctors, vendors, and just guests. Larry Wilson (Mr. Wilson’s brother) was there.

This week has been off to a slow start. Tuesday I had regional but now that we have had the fundraiser we are getting things back to normal. Our task for the next two weeks is to organize the fine sort areas of the warehouse. That is quite a task. It took us yesterday and all of today to do the pediatrics room, which is one of the smaller rooms we have to do.

Mr. Wilson came in and checked in on us today. He got to meet Andres who is probably one of the classiest guys I know. Well hope everyone else is having a great time on their projects too!!!

Molly Finucan -Hospital

Okay, so I am working at Hillcrest in the OB GYN Dept. I am following around a nurse for most of the day but I also get to spend time with the doctors as well. The first week of project I did a lot of baby holding, diaper changing, and baby dressing. The floor I work on is always really busy and there are always a ton of babies coming in and out of the nursery area. Another thing I get to do is go around to different rooms to check on the moms and make sure they are comfortable and clean. Every few hows nurses have to go in and empty thier catheters. (gross) We also change sheets, deliver formula, and help the moms get up and walk around. I've also gotten to watch a lot of circumcisions. It's really hard to watch because the babies cry so hard and they look like they are in so much pain, but it is over pretty quickly. The babies also get hepatitis shots. They get those in thier thigh so I got to hold some of them while they got the shot to prevent them from fussing and kicking around. Earlier this week I got to watch a sea section. It was a lot different than I expected. I though they just took the baby out with no problem, but they still have to kind of yank it out. They used this suction cup thing and attatched it to the baby's head to pull it out. It was really bloody and gutsy but it was really exciting. Once they took the baby out they hand it off to the nurses to be washed and checked. The nurses check its heartbeak and blood pressure. Then they clean in off and give it to the parents to hold. I saw that even after the baby is out, there is still a lot to do inside the mom. They clean out all the blood and make sure she is all sewn up inside before the close up her stomach. They nurse's job was then the count all of the operating utensils and make sure that none were left inside the mother. Once everything is accounted for, the mother is ready to be closed. Then she is wheeled off to another room where she is stablized and given her child. The hospital is really exciting and I am really ejoying project so far. :)

Checking In From Fitness Land

Hey Everybody,
I really am getting shown up by all of you with posting on this thing. But everyone's projects sound so interesting! In my defense, I'm super busy with my own blog (or small novel--whichever you deem to be appropriate) that I'm hard pressed to even keep up with updating that one because it takes me something like 2 hours minimum to complete a post. It's hard to do that and check in over here as well.

I'd like to thank everybody for all of the comments, support, and suggestions. For example, Natalie made a suggestion about trying almond milk instead of my usual 2 percent that I drink every morning. Right now, I'm in the process of looking into the benefits of that and posting it on my blog entry tonight. Last night, I actually posted two things, one post from Friday that I had been sitting on, trying to figure out what I wanted to say about eating disorders, and one post from yesterday. If you have time, try to read them both. The one from yesterday is a good example of my typical post format, and also begins to showcase a very, very interesting book called The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. This book is pure magic, and I encourage everyone to look into it. Actually, Brooke Strumbel turned me on to it, and I have found a lot of happiness and success by following its instructions,

The post from Friday is an example of a different format of post. Friday was a pretty ordinary day, so instead of walking readers through the monotony, I instead over-viewed what happened over its course, and then addressed an issue (not in great detail--I could talk for hours about the subject if you let me get going) that I have been wanting to talk about on the blog for a long time: the eating disorder. The thing that I am finding, and that really bothers me about all of these health and wellness books that I am reading is how uneducated most people are about disordered eating. I will say that unless you know someone who has gone through it, or have gone through it yourself, there is no real way to fully understand what it is or how to be sensitive to it. But in a post a while back on my blog, I really took issue with one book called The Diet for Teenagers Only and their complete lack of understanding of what could be triggering (or signal eating disordered thoughts) for some readers. In the post from Friday, I looked at another book's attempt to educate on the issue, and unfortunately, I found the write up very elementary and cliche. I really hope to find more books that actually address the problem in a correct and sensitive manner.

Another thing I have done during the course of this project is given up pop, with the help of one of my trainers, Ann Marie Cipolla (who I absolutely love and really connect with because she is like me in the sense that she is very artistic but also loves workout out and sports.). Not only have I given it up, but the rest of my house hold has as well. Today already, I drank just short of 80 fluid ounces of water. Although I'm peeing like a racehorse, I feel clean, and not bloated or gross. It is amazing to me how one consistency between every book that I have read and every trainer I have talked to is about how horrendous soda is for the body. It is all chemicals. Also, in my study of diet pop and its effects, Doc M came in and corrected some of my statements, giving me a very helpful, chemistry kissed version of what I had been learning. Again, I really appreciate the feedback!

I hope everyone is having an awesome time with their projects. I can't wait to see everyone today!

-Sam

Vet

This week was much of the same, seeing Dr. Richman handle routine patients and diagnose simple problems. I saw two more surgeries on tuesday, one was a dental cleaning on a dog and the other was another neuter. I saw them take x-rays today as well, which was a task because the dogs would not stay still (as you can imagine).

One thing I noticed this week was how much people care about their pets. One lady took off work for a whole week because her cat was sick! But other people who just don't care about their pets..

This week was much better then the first because I felt more comfortable in the office. I helped out as much as I could, but there's not a lot that I can do.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow, there are three surgeries scheduled, hopefully one is something I haven't seen yet so I can learn more!

I thought that after Mother's day, things would go back to normal and the store would not be quite as crazy. However, I was wrong. Last week was still very busy as a lot of people were coming in to exchange gifts from Mother's Day, get a different size in bracelets and of course the usual shoppers.

About every two months, a "Mystery Shopper" comes into Pandora. This person comes into the store to see that it is running smoothly and that the store is living up to what it should be. There was a lot of talk at the end of the week that the Mystery Shopper had come and everyone was confident that the person was satisfied and enjoyed their time at Pandora.

Throughout the week it was nice to switch up my activities. I had been coming in everyday and working with customers constantly during the first week. Last week I was able to do other activities, such as stoking all the beads, putting tags on bracelets and becoming more familiar with the other jewelry Pandora has to offer. Many people think Pandora has only bracelets, but they have earrings, necklaces, rings and soon to be sunglasses. The more and more I work there, the more I want to buy so many things! I was excited though because I had the chance to design my own bracelet to wear while I work!


Erica

International Partners in Mission

Hey y'all. I am thrilled that i'll get a chance to get out of the office this week. Right now I have been contacting a woman at Esperanza Threads, a cooperative that helps underprivileged women in dire situations make income through sewing and making clothes. ET is also one of the project partners IPM works with in the United States. At IPM I have been writing and tweaking website pages and am currently working on a big research project that will span 9-15 pages long. You might think this is something you would hate doing, but since I am going to major in International Relations, I think of it as a benefit and good opportunity for me to learn more about IPM's foundation and purpose. I have to write three project summaries: Non-formal education, micro-enterprise, and organizational development. I have to write one page that defines the word and 2-4 on specific, highlighted IPM projects that fall under each category. For example, Esperanza Threads is a micro-enterprise and is part of non-formal education. Micro-enterprise means small business and non-formal education means training in vocational and practical skills are being taught outside a formal school system. The women at Esperanza Threads are taught how to sew and then are able to sell what they have created. In addition to highlighting the projects I then analyze what IPM has done in the past, what it is doing now, and where it sees itself in the future with these projects.

Now, this is pretty random, but I noticed I have the same bathroom schedule with a random woman who works in the same building. The first time I tried unlocking the door and finally I opened it and had an awkward encounter with the woman. She seemed incredibly understanding of my clumsiness. So I went to the bathroom. 2 hours later, what do you know, I am in the same situation, spending at least 2 minutes fidgeting with the door and I can hear the toilet flushing and i'm thinking what awkward encounter will occur next. WELL i open the door and it's the same WOMAN. I call her bird lady cause she kind of looks like a bird. I was contemplating saying "Look we have the same pee schedule!" I didn't push the awkwardness.

The woman I am contacting at Esperanza Threads is named Sister Mary Eileen. She is setting me up with the volunteer coordinator who needs someone to help teach English to refugee children from Burma (a country that is bordered by China, Laos, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and the Bay of Bengal). I hope that they will need me this week, seeing that we have 2 and half weeks left!! I am really excited for this opportunity, knowing that they not only have to adjust to a different language, but a different culture and land. At IPM i'm beginning to realize how important it is not to just give something of material to someone in need, but instead listen and understand his or her's struggles and be able to motivate change. IPM's purpose is to spread peace and justice across borders for mostly women, youth, and children. Their goal is to not freely give supplies, food, or materials to a community, but to make close partnerships with a project site where financial support will be given to the organization in an effort to provide aid, training, and security for individuals in need. This method teaches independence rather than dependence.

As I move forward with the rest of my project I am learning to have patience. I have waited a long time after calling Esperanza Threads a few times. While I was disappointed Sister Mary Eileen hadn't returned my calls, I met with her at Namaste and was able to connect with her way better than on the phone. She told me she was very busy. So I relaxed and learned that she had a plan for me. I am learning not only to have patience, but more organization. I plan out how to schedule my job, lacrosse, interviews, and travel routes each morning and then do the same with each task I am given at IPM.

I am praying that I will open up my email and see SISTER MARY EILEEN in my inbox. I cannot wait to meet the refugee children and hope they still need me.

Yoga

This past week at Chagrin Yoga was more relaxed than the week prior. My fellow student project-er from Gilmour ended her project and left me alone. In the second week I moved from mostly observing the power yoga classes to actually taking them. They're actually so difficult. The room typically gets up to ninety degrees with even more humidity. I can confidently say it's the most I've sweat in my entire life in the span of an hour. It's probably because the room is so warm but the classes themselves are very physically demanding. I came into this project completely underestimating yoga and after several classes of Power Vinyasa Yoga I've completely lost any bit of skepticism I had towards it.

Each class of power yoga I head to the back corner to attempt to not embarrass myself in front of too many people. Almost everyday an ex Cleveland Browns football player practices next to me by the name of Elvis. Half way through the second week he finally asked me what I was doing there every day and I explained to him my senior project and he told me how he used to play linebacker for the Browns but still finds yoga to be one of the most mentally and physically demanding things he's done. His wife (who is easily one of the best in the class) laughed at him for struggling sometimes.

I've also continued with the cleaning around the studio. I've cut my mopping time by about three minutes, small accomplishment. Also, the owner of the studio and my sponsor decided she wanted to reorganize the small boutique of yoga clothes outside of the studio. To do this she enlisted my help in moving every single article of clothing and more or less switching to the opposite side of the room. That's about all I'm up to lately at Chagrin Yoga. Hope everyone's projects are going well!

SHPD

Hey girls,
My second week at the Police Department was just about as exciting as the first week, only this time there were no burglaries or shootings. On Monday Becky and reported to court which explored both drug-related and domestic violence cases. Following the court, Becky and I were privy to a K9 demonstration with the police dogs. I actually put the bite suit on and let the Dar, one of their German Shepards, attack me. Monday afternoon I was able to assist at a 3 car head on collision. It was very interesting to participate in a post-accident routine.
Tuesday I was given an inside look at the Strike Force. The detectives on strike force are undercover police officers who function as both detectives and drug busters.
Wednesday Becky and I were taken to the range where we were able to shoot 40 caliber handguns and MP-5s.
On Thursday Becky and I were able to meet with the Chief and Deputy Chiefs in order to gain a better understanding the organization and management of the police force.
On Friday Becky and I observed one of the companies qualify with different "first responder" weapons. The first responder weapons are bigger guns used by the first officer on the scene. First responders are vitally important because they may be able to quell a situation before the SWAT teams have to be involved. After watching the officers qualify Becky and I got to go back on the range. Again we shot 40 cal Glocks and MP-5s, but on Friday we were also able to shoot military issue M-4s.
I am very excited to hear all sorts of fun stories at our meeting tomorrow!

-Halle

Hey guys,
So luckily, this past week ended up being more eventful than the first. I missed Tuesday and Friday because of ap tests and unfortunately I missed the strategy meeting for this week, but I had plenty to do on the other days. I started off the week analyzing how the number of visits to Matt's website corresponded to the emails they send out and the announcements that they put on Facebook and Twitter (my sponsor actually told me to go on Facebook while at work, haha I was very excited). This was really cool because it was a chance to see what makes people pay attention to the campaign and how we could target more people in our advertising. One day, we drove downtown and packed mailers for the campaign, there was a lot of down time because they had to wait on a signature before printing the letter, which gave me time to talk to one of the guys who works there. He is a really interesting and funny guy and he made the two hour wait fun. Another thing I worked on this week was compiling details on an event list for all the months leading up to the election for all events that Matt could make an appearance at. There was a lot to look up on the internet, who knew there was so much going on in Cleveland! I also found out that I get to help at some of the upcoming parades at the end of the month, which should be really exciting. Looking forward to seeing you guys tomorrow and hearing some more stories.
Ellen M

Free Lunch in the Boonies

Hello all,

Last Wednesday I traveled out into the Boonies of Ohio. I'm talking out to the country, driving along dirt roads for like 4 hours with the only scenery being hick towns, farms, cows and a couple horses. Thank God for Sirius radio.

So, after leaving around 8 am from Parma, Ms. Gregory and I landed in Cherry Valley, Ohio at the Ohio Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, aka OASFAA, Conference.
After signing in (and finding that a meal ticket for me would be 27 more dollars than anyone should be willing to pay) we sat in on a Federal update on financial aid from the U.S. Department of Education. I wish I could say it was exciting and I learned a lot... but that would be a false statement. I was bored to tears and my could only comprehend about 12% of what was said.

Then there was lunch.
Turns out they don't check meal tickets at these functions.
We thought we were being sneaky as we slivered into the long lunch line filled with famished financial aid administrators... Until we ended up behind the very lady with which we had registered and discussed the cost of my wouldbe meal ticket. That is what you call a FAIL at sneakiness.
But, regardless, I ate for free :)

So after some mingling, Ms. Gregory presented a Potpourri of Financial Aid need-to-knows and after attending and helping her with that, I went to a how-to seminar about climbing the Business Ladder.

Now to the important part. The accumulation of free, unnecessary things from exhibits.
Due to this experience, the amount of junk in my room has significantly increased. From cloth bags, to a ridiculous amount of pens, writing pads and candy, to a throw blanket and two Garfield dolls (which I gave to my brothers), all sporting different trademarkets, company names and emblems, it has all made it's way back to my home. I'm not really one to splurge on random free junk, but when a superior pushes you like Ms. Gregory, pushed and encouraged me, you tend to give in. What I listed is only about half of what she took. It was a tad over the top.

After foraging for free-bes, we mingled some more and Ms. Gregory told one of her fellow colleagues that in about 5 yrs, after I graduate, I'll be running her company.
<<Though this means I must now plan to return to Ohio. (womp womp womp...)

Anywho, we took the trek back to Cleveland, this time sticking to the normal highway and thus replacing the country scenery with concrete.

At the office the next day, we had cookie cake to celebrate Ms. Gregory's birthday a week late. Yum. Cookie Cake.
Ms. Gregory and I skipped Friday because we were sooo exhausted from our trip.

At my senior project site, I've been doing a lot of learning how to sign Ms. Gregory's name and making pamphlets to send out to basically every school she's ever come in contact with. Not super exciting, but it has taught me the importance of marketing...
....and that I will have a stamp with my signature.

See everyone tomorrow!

Hello everyone!

I understand that I am a tad behind on the blogging, my bad Senora. I am working with Katie at MedWish and our first week consisted of various jobs and errans. As Katie has informed you this Saturday there was a huge fundraiser for MedWish, called the Band Aid Bash, and we helped a lot with the event during our first two weeks. We did things like cleaning different storage rooms to make them look presentable for the event and we also sorted through medical supplies and putting them in inventory. The event was rather large and there was around 400 people crammed into the sketchy warehouse off Euclid but it was really fun and the party planners made it look really snazzy. Katie and I were running around the event making sure everything was running smoothly. The night started out as us giving tours to the guest in which we walked them around MedWish explained where it all started and what it has come to. Then as the program started there were auctions taking place both silent and live. It was the first time I have ever experienced an auction and it was rather intense. In the live auction alone we raised 35,000 dollars and the goal of the evening was 100,000 which I am pretty sure we reached! The coolest part of the evening was that they set up a live video stream with a doctor in Egypt who is a recipient of MedWish supplies and he told his story and how much they have helped him and his practice. Overall the night was a great success and it was nice to be able to look at the event and feel like we had a part in it.

Not only are Katie and I having a blast and learning things about the medical field but we are making lots of new friends. Everyday a group of adults from the Cleveland Job Training organization for people struggling with autism comes in to help out at the Warehouse. We have become friends with all of them and frequently have lunch. Also we have now meet everyone in the office and got T shirts so we look official! Now that the event is over we will be helping separate more pallets of supplies and get them into inventory. Plus this week I believe we are helping load a shipment for Uganda.

For my project, I am working on the Friends of Matt Dolan campaign for Cuyahoga county executive. This is a new position created in the last election, so this is a pretty unique experience to get to see how it is being formed. Because it is so early in the year, with the election being in November, my job hasn't gptten too exciting yet. For most of the first week, I spent my time typing names of county employees into an Excel spreadsheet. The reason for this is because when Matt announced his candidacy he pledged not to take any donations from employees of the county as a way to ensure there is no corruption in his campaign. But I made the most of the job. There was another guy, who is a Hawken grad, who was volunteering there and we had races to see who could finish a page of names faster, I always lost. Even though it is not a very exciting job to do, I know that it is important to do grunt work at any job that I will have in the future. By the end, I got up to 4,615 names, an accomplishment I'd say. During the first week I also got to sit in on a weekly strategy meeting. This was the most interesting part of the week. They talked about how they want him to be portrayed in the media, how to use Facebook and Twitter in communicating Matt's message, analyzing the results of the first primary that took place and how that would affect the campaign structure, and things like that. I hope to be able to make some contributions in future meetings.
Sorry for the late post, I had some trouble with my blog account. New post on this week to come soon.
Ellen M

Stop the Presses!

Hey All,

So this past week I've been helping the designers at Nesnadny and Schwartz redesign their website. This entails editing pictures and formatting them. Also, I got to go to the printer to see one of the Zoo magazines get printed out. Now I heard (because our local printer is quite small compared to others,) that this would be a disappointment. However, for me, it was the coolest thing ever. I took pictures I will post later.

Here's the other cool part: if you find a mistake in your document you can legitimately yell "Stop the presses!" Turns out that expression has a real purpose, a purpose which I intended to take advantage of but didn't because the document looked so legit. Also, they have about 40 different sizes and types of paper at the press. It was crazy. Who knew some paper was made of plastic?

Other Things I've Learned...
If you want to become the favorite intern, bring Mitchell's ice cream to work. This equals instant love.
You can't "rain" one dollar.
If you want to work here, you need to exercise. I'm talking Winking Lizard, Tommy's and Mongolian Barbecue for lunch everyday.

Another funny story:
Turns out Myles Blumenkrant's mom is a client of Nesadney and Schwartz. Now as I am Myles's "mom" (Ellen Krantz + Colin Blumenthal = Myles Blumenkrantz) I met myself. That experience was neat.

K bye.
Ellen

Don't Forget the Midterm Meeting!

Midterm Meeting on Tuesday at 2:30pm. Come ready to share and listen to stories, experiences, hopes and give encouragement. See you all there! 
SraB

Just A Few Things...

Hey Guys! Sorry, I've been having major computer porblems lately and have had to scavnege until my laptop gets fixed and been loaded down with stuff to do lately. But I guess it's time to update that blog. So Valentina and I have been running around the city, hiding under rocks trying to get all the things done for our conference that need to be done.

We started off having some trouble with securing the lower school, which Mr. Breisch & Senora Botella solved fairly well. But we're still wondering about potential costs to using the Lower School (Lame, I know). So when we finally had that together, we could start planning out the entire program and looking at who are target audience was. So with that, our week mostly until today consisted of day-long meetings (After Val and I's AP Exams) sitting with our sponsor, as the focus is now more directed at the planning and follow through of our big day! I'm sure you guys...well, girls, have read from Val's blog post that we're planning a Diversity Conference on the 20th of May!

So, the Title of our Conference is Designing Diversity: What's Your Blueprint? (It's a facebook event, attend it!)

Our schedule is looking like this....


5:30pm – 6:00pm Registration/Sign-In, Snack, Mingling [Lincoln Lobby]

6:05pm – 6:15pm Opening Remarks by Kelynn & Valentina [Chapel]

6:15pm – 6:30pm Entertainment [Chapel]

6:30pm – 6:45pm Group Bonding (Individual Groups) [6th grade pod]

6:47pm – 7:49pm Sessions One & Two (Classrooms)

6:42pm – 7:19pm Session One (30 minutes)

7:21pm – 7:47pm Session Two (30 minutes)


7:50pm – 8:00pm Debrief (Puzzle Piece Creation)

8:00pm – 9:02pm Sessions Three & Four (Classrooms)

8:00pm – 8:30pm Session Three (30 minutes)

8:32pm – 9:02pm Session Four (30 minutes)

9:02pm – 9:12pm Debrief (Puzzle Piece Creation Part Two)

9:15pm – 9:30pm Closing & Thank You’s by Kelynn &Valentina [Chapel]


This part was probably one of my most favorite parts, making the actual outline of the schedule as opposed to the paper work, money & business side. That stuff kinda stinks...a lot actually, but it had to get done. Also, we've selected our facilitators, and have an introductory meeting with them on Monday, a few of Hawken Students have stepped up to help us reach our ending goal as well as students from Laurel, US, and faculty from Hawken, and some faculty from other places.

Because we have a faciltator meeting, Valentina and I are now working on our presentation to them, to enure that all of them know how to facilitate potential emotional situations, etc.

We also created a facebook invitation for all you Hawken Seniors, so check that out and click attend and be there!

One thing we may have to do that will end up being costly is paying for food ourselves because we start Sign-In/Registration at 5:30pm, and we go until 9:30pm, meaning we're overlapping the dinner hour. So that's something still being discussed about and how to best handle it.

AND, I don't know what Val's talking about, I'm not MEAN when I'm "business-eey", I'm just...umm...focused, yeah. Haha. But Val's been awesome, we've been able to talk through everything and come to a consensus, we've bounced ideas off of each other and been able to come up with even better ones. I think we work really well together because we're not afraid to be honest with each other, but still do so in a loving way, which is awesome! I'd give her an F+...JUST KIDDING. I'd give her an A+ back :)

Well, those are just a couple things I can quickly tell you guys about, at the moment, I'm corresponding with Ms. Nichols from HB and Tracy Crough from US about their interest in the program, among many other contact people at other schools. And today is our day to continue contacting people and begin to buy supplies and physically create the things we need for the conference. I'm really excited for this part because it's the part I've actually wanted to do, as opposed to the boring business stuff.

I hope project is going well for everyone :) Looks like everyone has really cool projects!


Don't forget to come to the Conference :)Thursday May 20th, 2010 from 6-9:30pm, Registration from 5:30 to 6! And it's free with free food :)

Namaste Celebration/ Working with International Partners In Mission

For my senior project I am helping International Partners in Mission, a non-profit organization that works to spread peace and justice across borders for women and children. They have 60 project partners throughout Asia & Indian Sub-Continent, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the United States. IPM has a very small office building in Cleveland Heights, however, their impact is unbelievable. It is truly amazing how such an organization can make a difference with such little space as a headquarters. Although they work in Cleveland, IPM is all about having a close relationship with each of its partners. Their closeness is maintained through immersion trips, project reports, phone calls, and even Skype!

Each morning I have a different task. As we're nearing Namaste! (IPM's 8th annual cultural celebration) I have been helping Jessica, a graduate from Ohio University with the event. We have created poster boards that represent some of the regions IPM works with. The first day was incredibly exhausting. I translated so many letters from students in El Salvador and posted each translation as a word document. The letters were heart-warming. As I read through each one in Spanish I learned that the common desire of each student was to see a picture of all of us at IPM. It was adorable! By the way, each letter had a picture of the child and sometimes a picture of their school, home, or the outdoors. Other tasks I have done include making phone calls to get more people to come to Namaste, re-written some of the websites, and tweaked other pages too. I am very excited for a change with the event. Namaste is today (Friday the 14th from 6-10pm so come for only $15 and you can enjoy all the international food you could ask for and get to see what IPM is all about! There will be a silent auction and other entertainment. As for tomorrow, I will be busy helping IPM set up and attending the event in the evening. I hope to try as much exotic food as I can..yummy!

Currently I am trying to communicate with the staff at Esperanza Threads so that I can help volunteer there as well as at IPM. The woman who is charge there is very busy so I have to keep calling ): Hopefully I'll start there next week!

Diversity Gala

Sra. Botella,

Past few days have been difficult. :) But we're on the road.

Had a serious meeting with our sponsor yesterday. We have dates and a program now. We've been sending e-mails out. Getting people to join us be a part of it. It's been REALLY great because we've been diving into what we really want out of this and it's been wonderful. So here's some deep things to share. Haha.

Our Purpose and Goal:

- to educate and create a safe place for people to talk about things they may not be able to talk about at their own schools; to be able to express what they see and feel in terms of diversity, on the daily.

- to make people STOP and THINK. What IS diversity? Instead of them reproducing the same manufactured answer society has moulded them to know.

- defining our OWN meaning of diversity, without being bind by the previous generation's notion of what it means and opening our minds to the TRUTHS of society.

So we have all the details, ideas, and activities for the program on lock. Thursday, May 20th. We're just contacting people now and hoping they can pull through. It's going to be great! :)Yayyyyy..

P.S. - I was being NICE in the corridor, not running away. Haha. Kelynn told me she had spoken to you.

Oh, and Kelynn's been working REALLY hard, just so you know! It said we need to evaluate our partners. Yeah! I'd give her an A+. But that's just her business side. She's mean when she's business-eey! *joke*

Have a great day! :)

Confessions of an X-Athlete

Over the last week (and some change) I have been experimenting with several different kinds of fitness as well as exploring nutrition and my body's needs in an effort to figure out what I'm going to need to do in college to stay healthy. I have been writing massively long, but super interesting posts on my blog:

www.thexathlete.blogspot.com

Please go check it out. I detail my days, from what I eat, to where I go, to how I feel, as well as review and give tips that I pick up from books that I read pertaining to my project.

I am not about to get super detailed here because I just wrote a really long blog post for my own blog, but I have been working out with three very different personal trainers (one of which is Nurse Gali), and also taking classes such as kickboxing, Pilates, aerobics, and even a Latin Dance- inspired class called ZUMBA! I have also been running, walking, and biking on my own.

What I have found from all of this is that I really enjoy group fitness. I'm one that has trouble self motivating. For example, I have to drag myself to go on a run in the morning. I also don't really like being one-on-one with a personal trainer, because unless you find one that really fits with your style, it is hard to handle. Thus far, none of my three really match what I would look for if I was to go the personal trainer route in college. On the other hand, these classes are super fun and high energy. They make me forget that I'm working out. I leave the studio dripping in sweat and sore as all get out, but I genuinely enjoy my time. I also love the anonymity of the class. I can push myself as hard as I want without being questioned or judged. The workout is for me,but I am in control. I have to modify a lot of moves due to my still less-than-perfect right leg. These classes allow me to do that without making a big deal of it.

Nutritionally, one of the biggest things I am working on is listening to my body. I try to eat when I feel my body tell me it's hungry, rather than ignoring my body's signals. At first, I tried to eat just like normal, before I was working out this hard, but I soon realized that was completely impossible. My body would scream for food. But as I begin week two, I am definitely beginning to find balance.

I can feel my muscles coming back more quickly than I ever could have imagined. My arms and quads are what I notice most. My right leg is still playing catch up a little bit, but my left leg is nearly rock solid. Oh, how I missed that feeling.

Alright. Keep having fun everybody. Like I said, check out my blog! Good luck with projectos. (Look at my Spanish senora!) Peace.

-Sam

Yoga-ing

The first week of my senior project consisted of helping out at a yoga studio, observing classes, and taking classes to master what I had observed. It's also been extremely humbling. I went into the project thinking yoga would be simple for me since I play two sports and am active much of the time but I was very wrong. So wrong. I did a lot of flailing and falling to the ground in an attempt to handstand. After about ten tries I finally got the handstand down (with my feet against the wall, but it still counts). So far I've written down about 50 various poses to incorporate into my yoga practice. These poses are put together into "flows." I've observed many flows but only actually figured two out. The most difficult pose I've been asked to complete by the end of the week is the sideways crow pose. It's one of those things you kind of have to see to understand but I'll attempt to explain. You're in a crouching position and have to lean your legs at the thigh onto your forearms where you must balance only on your palms. I put a picture to the side but that's kind of the advanced sideways crow pose the one I'm trying to do doesn't have the extended leg. It's one of the poses that showed me that yoga wasn't going to be easy as I thought it was.

Along with practicing the yoga I've been helping out around the studio. This includes mopping the floors after every class, which can get really bad after power yoga when the room is ninety degrees and literally every person has sweat dripping from them, cleaning the bathrooms :(, doing inventory in the small shop outside of the studio, and answering phones to answer yoga questions. Answering phone calls proved to be much more difficult than I thought because I didn't actually know the answers to many questions.

Overall it's been an exciting and new first week. Hope everyone else's projects are going well!

Encounters with a CEO

So...my project is at Educational Management Services, Inc. And I'm working with a lady from my church, Christine Gregory. You know all that FAFSA stuff that we had to do for college if you wanted financial aid, etc.? Well, if you went to one of the schools that EMS works with (which tend to be small trade and technical schools across the U.S. and Puerto Rico) you would turn the FAFSA into your school and they would send it to EMS, who then inputs it and sends off to the Feds.
Exciting, right?
Yeah...I know...doesn't sound like it.
But, I am learning a lot.
I started last Wednesday, and have since created a powerpoint, written up some letters, emailed and snail-mailed some clients and played some sudoku. But, I already knew how to do that kind of stuff. The majority of what I'm learning is from just being in the prescence of a successful small business owner. EMS has been up and running since '85 and by being around Mrs. Gregory, I am being constantly presented with the mindset necessary for anyone who wants to be an effective leader. Because the office is so small, about 5 other employees, including Mrs. Gregory, it gives me a lot of personal interaction with her and in seeing how things operate on all levels: the type of environment employees best work in, how to optimally use space, how to be efficient, the necessity of advancement and improvement, etc. I've also been allowed to sit in on a meeting while Mrs. Gregory discussed and finished advising the development of a new software.
Tomorrow I'm off to Jefferson to help and sit in on one of the many workshops that Mrs. Gregory leads at the different conferences to which she is invited. Towards the end of the month will be going to Chicago for 4-5 days for another conference.
Well..that's all that has been going on so far.
Oh! And unlike, Ellen, I don't get massages, but I do have a big leather chair that spins.
Oh! Oh! And I saw Eby running down Euclid for a good 4 blocks. I must say I was pretty entertained. <---that was random, but necessary.

MedWish

For project I am working with Brooke at MedWish. It is a non-profit organization that sends medical supplies to countries in need. It’s located on Euclid Avenue in what looks like a really rundown warehouse.

This week we followed a guy named Andres around. Yes, he is as cool as his name sounds. (Our real sponsor was out of town this week in Argentina for vacation.) On our first day Andres showed us how to do the three main jobs that volunteers come in and do which are sort medical supplies, count and box the supplies, and then put them into inventory. We also learned how to use a tape gun, which if I do say so myself is much harder then it looks.

On this Saturday they are hosting a fundraiser in the warehouse. So this week we have been cleaning up to make everything look presentable. That has been quite a task. They are sent so many medical supplies that it is really difficult for them to sort it fast enough and keep it tidy. At the fundraiser Brooke and I are going to be tour guides showing everyone the process of where the supplies goes from when it comes it to when it is ready to me sent out. We get T-shirts. For the fundraiser Brooke and I had to make 400 favors to stick into the peoples cars. It took us about 3 and ½ hours.

So I don’t want to write everything because Brooke needs something to say. But I love my project and it really is a fun thing to do.

Crime Fighting in Shaker Heights

Hey Girls! I hope everyone is having a fantastic project! I know this sounds cliche, but my first week started off with a bang... literally.
This week Becky and I reported for work at the Shaker Heights Police Department. The first day was a little dull because we were only able to observe the hectic organization of a Monday. On Tuesday Becky and I observed court where we witnessed a woman get arrested for refusing to pay her court fees. After lunch Becky and I were asked to help two of the detectives prepare a homicide case for trial. It was very interesting to see the culmination of the investigation.
On Wednesday morning, at 5:30 am, long before I was supposed to report for work, a man was spotted breaking into my car which was parked in our driveway. My brother's ipod was stolen and my front seat was a mess, but my car was not damaged. It turns out that the burglar had spent the morning breaking into cars in my neighborhood. The police were called and a lot excitement ensued at our house (I will expand upon the details when I am cleared to do so). The suspect was apprehended and was shot a few houses away from ours. I was able to watch as detectives "processed" (fingerprinted, etc.) my car which had become part of the crime scene. Due to the excitement I spent the morning filing papers as the department sorted through all of the details.
Becky and I spent the majority of Thursday and Friday in shift/traffic ride-alongs. I was able to witness everything from traffic violations to the process of responding to the scene of a crime, this time one that was not in my own backyard.
I have had an extremely exciting week, and I have gained so much respect for all of the men and women working at the Police Department.

-Halle

A visit with the vet

For my project I am working with Dr. Richman at his animal clinic in Richmond Heights. Dr. Richman has a freshmen son at Hawken, Chris. Everyday I follow around Dr. Richman and his two techs Robin and Nicole. I watch them work with the animals, doing surgeries, dental care, diagnosing patients, and routine visits.

The first day got off with a bang with two surgeries to do. The first was a cat named Camper who was going to be neutered and his teeth were nasty (since he was old) so they pulled three of his teeth and cleaned the rest of them. The second was a larger boxer named Deuce who also needed to be neutered. Both surgeries went well! I thought I would be a little uncomfortable watching them but I was alright, not nauseous or anything. Then that day I saw some routine visits, like checkups for humans. One was a very cute 1.6 pound chihuahua, it was so small!

The week was also very sad. One owner brought in a 7 year old lab, when he was a puppy he swallowed a pop can and the owner had to pay 4,000 dollars to have it removed. The owner was worried that it had happened again because the dog was showing all of the same symptoms but she could not pay for the surgery again so she asked the Dr. to put it down :(

So far its been amazing to learn all the stuff that vets do! I have asked so many questions, I am learning a lot about what it takes to be a vet!

I hope everyone else is having fun at their projects =]!

Clara

ps. it took me like 3 hours to figure this out.. i felt like my mom trying to facebook or something!

Mother's Day Mayhem

Hello,

For my Senior Project I am working at Pandora. For many people that have asked, this is not the music website, or the home of Avatars, it is the jewelry store.


This week has been absolutely crazy with Mother's Day. On my first day I got right to work by making sure all of the charms were in stock, cleaning, learning prices and shadowing a coworker. Within an hour I had sold my first bracelet and two charms! Each day I have become more and more familiar with what the store has to offer and this is very helpful when people come in asking for a specific charm.


There was always a mad rush in the middle of the day, and everyone was looking for the special mother's charm. However, Pandora does not have a specific charm for Mothers, but I knew of a few charms that were very popular. I guided people towards the 'Everlasting Love' charm- made up of continuous hearts, or to the 'Queen Bee' charm- a little bumble bee with a gold crown, or even 'Red Hot Love'. (I even helped Katie out in picking out two charms for her mom). Yet over these charms, 'The Mother of Pearl' bead was the most popular, which is pictured above. Hope all of the mothers out there will be happy with their new charms and jewelry!


Let's hope this hail stops!

Erica

Hey, is anybody out there? I want some news :)

I have been reading Sam's blog (great job, btw :) and Ellen has posted, but we need to hear how the first week is going for the rest of you. I hope all is well. School sure is quiet without you all around. Those of you who have had AP exams, I hope they went well. Okay, have a good afternoon.
SraB

Designers Have Dirty Mouths

Hi Everyone,

For my project I'm working at the graphic design company Nesadney and Schwartz on beautiful University Circle. I got to park at Mather house and walk over!

I hope everybody's first day is going as well as mine has been thus far. I get my own desk! And phone! And computer!! Already, today I've worked with an educating program called Lynda, which tutors you about all different types of graphic design programs, right now I'm learning about InDesign which is the same program we use for Onyx pages.

The pictures above are the first ones I edited, the top one is the final result and the one the bottom is what I started with (I had to get rid of the line and shadow.) We're working on redesigning their website.

Also, I got to sit in on a conference call with Vassar College because we're designing their quarterly alumni magazine and later I get to go to a senior art showcase at CIA.

Here is more of what I have learned so far:

It is very easy to get lost when driving down to University Circle.

Designers get very belligerent defending their work: dirty language ensues.

Designers love to eat (we ordered pizza for lunch. Woo-hoo!)

The Vasser quarterly alumni magazine comes out three times a year.

OK, that's all!

Peace, Ellen

P.S. Now it is Tuesday, the office has a masseuse come in for 15 minute chair massages for everyone. I don't know who thought this up but I would like to offer them a personal thank you.

Good luck tomorrow!

Have a super great first day, ladies! I look forward to hearing soon from you. Post something about your first day and how it goes. Does it look like it will be what you expected?
Remember, it's just the first day. If things seem rough, they always do at first. Take everything in and accept the challenges offered with flourish.
 :)

Sra B